The Late Bronze Age: Internationalism, Mitanni, and the Hittite Empire

Emily Booker Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World March 18, 2015 Key Questions:

How are trade and contact in the eastern Mediterranean unique during the Late Bronze Age?

How does the Hittite empire (and to a lesser extent, the Mitannian empire) fit into this picture of international exchange? What is the Late Bronze Age? “Early” Late Bronze Age

Relief showing Thutmosis III smiting conquered Canaanites with accompanying text about the Battle of Megiddo, Karnak Temple, Egypt, ca. 15th c. BCE

Close-up of seated statues of King Idrimi, Alalakh, ca. 1500 BCE The Amarna Period Band of Brothers: the Amarna Letters The International Age: Koiné and trade

Gold bowl, Ugarit Alabaster vase of Niqmaddu II, Ugarit

Dagger with gold inlay, Shaft Grave tomb, Mycenae (Greece!) Uluburun Shipwreck The Mitannian Empire

EA 19, letter from Tušratta king of Mitanni to the king of Egypt, Amarna, ca 14th cent. BCE The Fall of Mitanni to the Anatolian Power

Letter from Šuppiluliuma I to the king of Egypt, Amarna, second half of the 14th c. BCE The Hittite Empire

Sealing of Hittite royal seal of King Muwatalli, ca. 1300 BCE Boğazköy - Hattuša Boğazköy - Hattuša Boğazköy - Hattuša

Yerkapi, southern rampart and gate, Hattuša Boğazköy - Hattuša

King’s Gate, Hattuša

Lion Gate, Hattuša Boğazköy - Hattuša

Nişantaş, Hattuša

Hieroglyphic Chamber (Südburg), Hattuša Yazilikaya

Relief of 12 gods of the underworld, Chamber B, Yazilikaya Yazilikaya The Decline of the Hittites

Scene of the Battle of Kadesh (from the Egyptian point of view), Ramesseum, Egypt

Egypto-Hittite Peace Treaty Hittites and the rest of the Near East

Silver Hittite Vessels Key Questions:

How are trade and contact in the eastern Mediterranean unique during the Late Bronze Age?

How does the Hittite empire (and to a lesser extent, the Mitannian empire) fit into this picture of international exchange?